Wednesday’s forecasts for Hurricane Helene painted a gloomy picture for the Chattahoochee Valley region. Some forecasts had a Category 4 hurricane making landfall near Apalachicola, Florida and paralleling the Chattahoochee River in eastern Georgia with the eye of the storm passing directly over Columbus, Hamilton and Pine Mountain. That was uncomfortably close to the Greater Valley Area, and many people went out to stock up on emergency supplies, anticipating power outages.
Fortunately for those of this region, the storm took a more easterly path. Given the dire forecasts on Wednesday, the actual events of Thursday and early Friday morning were not bad at all for Chambers, Troup and Harris counties.
Mayor Steve Tramell told The Valley Times-News that a couple of trees came down in West Point, one of which caused a temporary power outage. The heavy rain that did fall caused some street flooding in Lanett and Valley. The portion of North Lanier Avenue that runs in front of Langley Motor Company was closed for a short period until the excess water could drain away. The east entrance to Fob James Drive was temporarily closed as Moore’s Creek got out of its banks and washed across the road for a short time.